An expert guide for your leadership journey.

About

JaRae Birkeland | Founder

JaRae Birkeland is a leadership development coach and consultant who specializes in developing customized sustainable, research-based initiatives for organizations, teams and individuals. JaRae has a diverse professional background in organizational development, program facilitation, executive coaching, project management and outdoor experiential education. Her passion for organizational leadership and learning about different cultures has led her to living, working and traveling in 6 continents, 35 countries and all 50 states creating a variety of global experiential learning programs in corporate environments. JaRae has worked with leaders in both the public and private sector in the fields of engineering, construction, finance, education, government, tech, healthcare, entrepreneurial start-ups and non-profits.

Before founding Maitri Leadership, JaRae was a full-time faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership and still maintains that affiliation today along with being a consultant for The Centre for Organizational Effectiveness and an Executive Coach at ExecOnline. 

JaRae uses an authentic, compassionate, and energetic approach to connect with and support leaders of varying industries and backgrounds and is particularly passionate about helping people discover how to distinguish pressure from stress in their life and how to manage their time, energy, and attention over the long term.

Education

JaRae completed her Master’s degree in Leadership Studies with a certification in Executive Leadership Coaching at the University of San Diego. Her graduate research focused on integrating mindfulness and self-compassion leadership training into corporate workplace environments. JaRae is a Board-Certified Coach (BCC), a Master Trainer in the Challenge of Change method and assessment and holds a number of certifications in behavioral assessment instruments such as the WorkPlace Big Five Profile™, FIRO-B®, Innovation Strengths Preference Indicator®, Change Style Indicator, Influence Style Indicator™ Assessment, the Benchmarks® 360-Degree Assessment Suite, and a 200HR Yoga Teacher.

Professional Affiliations

  • Faculty Member, Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)

  • Consultant, The Centre for Organizational Effectiveness

  • Executive Coach, ExecOnline

  • International Coaching Federation (ICF) Member

  • International Leadership Association (ILA) Member

  • Green Building Council Member

  • San Diego Professional Coaches Alliance Member

  • Group Dynamics International Member

Image of mountain landscape.
Image of ocean landscape.

Personal

Outside of coaching and consulting, JaRae is an avid adventurer who actively explores the outdoors while backpacking, mountain biking, and rock climbing with loved ones around the world, and enjoys practicing mindfulness, meditation, and yoga, and finding her creative flow in a variety of artistic mediums and forms of expression.

Assessments Utilized

  • A Benchmarks® 360-degree assessment is a method of systematically and confidentially collecting information about an individual’s performance from their peer, direct report and superior’s perspective. It provides a complete view of a leader’s strengths and opportunities for growth. The Center for Creative Leadership’s Benchmarks® 360-degree assessment suite is one of the largest leadership assessment databases in the world and can be customized for the competencies unique to an organization.

  • An evidence-based assessment that uses eight distinct levers to measure an individual’s resilience, the degree to which they ruminate, and their response to change. This assessment is designed to be a benchmark, or snapshot of a point in time, that can be changed as behaviors are modified. The assessment pairs with the Challenge of Change Resilience Training™ workshop, which is focused on helping individuals develop skills to become more resilient and respond to change more effectively.

  • A way to measure an individual’s preferred style, or preferences, in approaching, initiating, and dealing with situations in the workplace that concern change.

  • The FIRO-B® instrument assesses one’s interpersonal needs and how they motivate and impact their behavior in the workplace. Three needs, inclusion, control and affection, are measured in two dimensions, “expressed” behavior (how much we initiate behavior), and “wanted” behavior (how much we prefer to receive from others).

  • An assessment designed to understand an individual’s preferred, secondary and underutilized styles for influencing others.

  • Consisting of 14 scales that measure preferred behavioral tendencies for solving problems and working with others, this assessment interprets styles of thinking, relating, and behaving in the context of innovation within businesses and organizations.

  • One of the more recognizable personality instruments, the MBTI® is utilized to help individuals better understand how they derive their energy, perceive information, prefer to communicate, interact with the world, and make decisions.

  • An assessment explaining work-related behaviors using five personality supertraits (extraversion, need for stability, originality, accommodation and consolidation), and 23 subtraits.

  • "These one-on-one coaching sessions were pertinent to my growth as an engineering leader to learn how to effectively work in a team and lead, so I am grateful to JaRae for teaching me and coaching me. I would highly recommend anyone to work with JaRae on overcoming obstacles in all aspects of everyday life."

    -Thomas C., National Laboratory Chemical Engineer

  • “JaRae’s training on resiliency and mindfulness was an impactful training for our company’s Professional Women’s Group. Many people commented that the exercises from the training could easily be applied and used in their daily professional and personal lives. People noted that the expanded awareness and skill set gained in the training contributed to a greater sense of self-agency, confidence and calm during stressful times. In particular during these times of collective change and global shifts, the teachings JaRae offered have proven to be more relevant, practical and useful than ever.”

    — Nicole L., Construction Communications Manager

  • “JaRae was very approachable and made the content easy to understand. She was so generous in answering questions. Her enthusiasm is contagious.”

    — Sara T., Data Analytics Manager